The Results Are Coming In.

Kim and I are in the middle of career assessments here at Wycliffe headquarters and thus far it’s been a lot of fun. This service is offered to us at a greatly discounted price because we’re members and we’re jumping in head first. I think we have somewhere around 7 assessments to take ranging from personality tests, career values, and natural abilities inventories. This is the most comprehensive set of tests I’ve ever taken about myself. We’re only just getting started but already the results coming back are really interesting.

I can already tell that our experience(s) overseas are greatly shaping my responses to these assessments; my answers are colored by recent events. For example, in a ‘career values’ test I had to sort cards based on what I valued the most about a job or career. It was interesting to note my top four answers. Work-life balance and location were my top two values, followed by recognition and exercise competence. ‘Work-life balance’ says to me that I want a job that will fit into it’s proper place in my life and not completely dominate it. One of my biggest struggles overseas was that my life was NOT balanced. The job was life and life was the job. There was essentially no difference and that was hard for me.

The ‘location’ value is tied to this. Location indicates that I want to live in a place that will be conducive to my lifestyle and allow me the freedom to pursue hobbies and other interests; a comfortable home base to operate from. Apparently this is a high value to me.

The other top two values were recognition and exercise competence and these are also related. ‘Recognition’ simply means that I desire some recognition for my work. I think I reacted so strongly to this career value because I feel that I didn’t have recognition overseas. So much of what we did was on our own. We basically had to be our own bosses on a day to day basis. But recognition is a high value to me. I need someone to care. I need someone to notice and value what I’m doing.

And lastly, the ‘exercise competence’ value says that I want a career where I can truly use my skills and abilities and have competence on the job. I want to put in a hard day’s work and have something to show for my time and effort. I want to be good at what I do and be recognized for it. It’s not that I crave praise or attention for myself, I just want to do what I’m good at and get a little affirmation for it. I want to know I’m in the right spot.

So the results are coming in and I’m learning new things about myself. I think these assessments will be very helpful in determining the kind of job that is a good fit for me. Like I said, I’ve never done career counseling this thoroughly before. I’m having fun with it!